The consequences of an act are often much more numerous and important than people have any idea of. · 7:12pm Nov 29th, 2015
Before I get into my review of yesterday's episode, I want first talk about Christmas, which I can do because the season started last Thursday. I was reading Playtpus Comix's Island of Misifit Christmas Specials, when I was struck by this line at the end of the humorous review of the adapation to Dicken's Cricket on the Hearth:
Well, this was certainly a different experience. That reason is likely why it bombed in the sixties. But I think if more people knew about Cricket on the Hearth today, there would be a cult following surrounding it.
Yes, it's uncomfortably bleak, but think about it: some of the most beloved Christmas classics deal directly with how harsh life can get for people. The aforementioned Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas -- all these things are full of failure and mean people and how sometimes things just don't go right. Even the more recent holiday movies that have been added to the stable have this as a theme; what else are A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation about? People watch them FOR their characters failing, because in the end, by Christmas Day, everything works out. And this, to me, is why Christmas has endured as a holiday for so long, and spread around the world to be fully celebrated in countries with a 1% Christian population. When the days get shorter and the nights get colder, people need more than anything a special event to remind them of love and family and what is GOOD about being alive.
And they respond best to stories that explore this idea to its fullest, about characters that have unpleasant experiences we've all had and can relate to. It's why the Simpsons have never told a better Christmas story than in their pilot. It's why Gift of the Magi works, it's why A Christmas Carol works, and it's why Cricket on the Hearth works.
That might be the single most lucid and intelligent analysis of Christmas I have read. Hey, maybe I'll join this year's festivities.
Okay, enough sentimentality, time to head on to the episode review.
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.” So begins the nursery rhyme that details how the smallest of things can have an effect on the world at large. It is not so much a cute poem as much a matter of fact. History has us learn only the big events and the great people, but very little focus has been on the small ones, the ones that lead up to those big events and make those great people great, the things and people that are never recorded. Given my strong belief in the butterfly effect and the chaos theory, and my archival nature means that I feel the need to record a lot of things that others might find trivial in the belief it might be important, although another cause may be in effect.
The concept of how those things can have an effect has been explored in fiction, often through alternate history. If Wikipedia is to be believed, one of the earliest examples of alternate history dates back to Roman writer Livy in 4th century B.C.E. were he asks the question “What would happen if Alexander headed west instead of east to build his empire and encountered the Romans?” (naturally, Livy had the supposedly undefeated Alexander lose to his forbearers). Other examples have come along such James Thurber’s humorous “If Grant had been drinking at Appomattox”, the various works of Harry Turtledove, and the hit video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert (a fave of mine). That’s continued down to this fandom, which has also written it’s own alternate universe stories, hinging on a change in the past. The most common one is, or was (I can’t say I’ve done a good job keeping up with the fandom), what if Twilight and her friends failed to stop Nightmare Moon, but there was always a different concept I found more interesting: what if Dash failed to do a Sonic Rainboom and thus she and the rest would not get their cutie marks in “The Cutie Mark Chronicles.” That was explored by one of the earliest fanfics I read on Equestria Daily, [url=uberPhoenix - FIMFiction.net]UberPhoenix’s (also known as FreedomAndChaos) A World Without Rainbooms, which was partly based on the TV show Fringe, where there two worlds, one where Dash did succeed and one where she did not. The Twilight on the rainboomless side had switched places with the Twilight and it was up to her friends to get her back, while at the same time explore the alternate world (for example, Applejack became a business pony in Manehattan, while Rarity and Pinkie works on the Apple family farm). It was never completed, sadly real-life got in the way, but I always looked forward to it. But I had it in mind while I was watching the yesterday's two-parter and the season five finale (and with it a long new episode drought), Cutie Re-Mark, which also centers around how the preventing to Dash from completing the Rainboom affects Equestria at large.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: the time travel plot, by its nature, does not make sense. The mere act of stopping the Sonic Rainboom would have prevented the main six from getting their cutie marks, which in turn would have lead to any of the alternate presents, which means they wouldn’t have stopped Starlight Glimmer, which means she wouldn’t have a reason to go back in the past in the first place, which in turn loops began to the fact Dash would succeed at the Sonic Rainboom, and so and so forth. This is a Grandfather Paradox in it’s most textbook form and because it’s clear that the past can be changed (by the mere act of stopping it), you can’t apply Novikov’s self-consistency principle here (for a time travel episode that does do that, see Roswell that Ends Well of Futurama, where Fry goes back into the past, kills his grandfather, sleeps with his grandmother, and it turns out that he was supposed to do so because he is his grandfather and was fulfilling an event that was supposed to happen). Nor does the spell make a lot of sense; one has to wonder why neither Twilight, Spike, nor Starlight Glimmer are affected overall (Twilight, for one probably shouldn’t have her cutie mark, nor her wings, and even if she managed to get those again in each present, she definitely shouldn’t have her old memory).*, nor why only Twilight and Spike are sucked in to the portal when the rainboom is prevented, and not Glimmer, and why after that fact. I would assume the scroll has an effect on the first part, but not when it happens. It’s a mess, and one has a choice between ignoring it, yell loudly in hopes that the writers will amend the errors of their ways, or grudgingly accepting it because there would be no story otherwise. I personally opt for the latter because it seems the most sane.
* I’m sure the people making the episode will make up an excuse that Starlight Glimmer’s spell only effects the world, not the caster, who grows up as if things never changed.
Then there are the various alternate worlds created. I have to admit that I did like the one where Equestria is in the middle of war with King Sombrero (with shades of media set in World War II, but I have to say, the battle was too comical given that some of the combat amounted to the pony equivalent of a slap fight) and that one was the best alternate timeline shown, because it was the one where there was an actual world worth exploring and that might be due to the fact it had the most time focused on it. Equestria being developed into a war machine and the changes it would have on the populace would great to see more of. I may not agree with all the developments (like Applejack returning home and running a factory or how the fighting was handled) but I like the idea, and the presentation (including the color filtering they added). Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the ones with Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon. The latter’s been so overdone for me that there’s no way that four or so minutes can compete with what the fandom’s created (plus Nightmare Moon is still an idiot, and I don’t understand how after years of no day the planet hasn’t frozen over and all life gone extinct). And while the changeling one was better, I still can’t find any interest in it. The other ones we see are too short to be good (although the Flim and Flam one is kind of cool) besides the one where all has ended, which actual could be scary if they changed the dialogue a little to include more silence on Twilight’s part. But it does create a paradoxical fact, in that the two-parter feels at once too short and too long for its own good. I can imagine this episode beginning expanded into a short series that’s a bit like Sliders (my mom watched this a lot when I was a kid) with Twilight and Spike heading down each alternate timeline for an episode and trying to get out (I’m sure as I write this that someone has turned out a fanfict that will explore anyone of those various bits (hell, I’ve considered it, but since when I have written anything)). At the same time, much of the alternates feel like padding, when only really only one to three could have been used. But as a single episode, it would have been very rushed (much like Magical Mystery Cure was). I think the whole TV scheduling, that is things have to be 22-mins or 44-mins, thing is partly at fault, a reminder that it’s very hard to create good works in the television medium.
And then there’s the villain of the picture, Starlight Glimmer, making her return from the season 5 (cameo appearance aside). If you were to ask me the Starlight Glimmer stop the Sonic Rainboom by talking to bullies and telling them why they shouldn’t pick on Fluttershy and throwing Twilight for a loop, and Twilight’s own failed attempt at talking Dash into trying a Rainboom (that’s right, Dash, best thing to do when approached by a stranger is get out of there as fast as possible) was far and away more entertaining and interesting than seeing any of the alternate presents (including the Sombrero one), and she showed at many times that she’s not a complete idiot (just delusional and crazy). And while I’ve read a few people complaining about the fact that Twilight should have easily trounced Starlight Glimmer because she’s no longer a unicorn, I willing to cut some slack and also point out the thing they are often cite as evidence was the match with Tirek (which involved a powered-up Twilight) and it was still better than the usual tripping up Dash because it led to her abandoning the race to watch (hey it fits in Dash’s character). However, I have mixed thoughts on Glimmer’s backstory. It feels like a cheap way to build sympathy for her obvious redemption, and there are ways that it could have been better done that would have fit with her desire for (her corrupted idea of) equality and hatred of cutie marks (what if her friend getting a cutie mark caused him to reject her for being a blank flank). Also one would assume (based on little proof) her talent would cause her to be sent to Canterlot for study where she could re-meet her friend. In that regard it was too short and needs expansion. But it does point to another bit of Cutie Re-Mark, one that is hinted at and perhaps unintended: nostalgia. Glimmer’s real problem isn’t so much vengeance, but an inability to let go of the past, whether it is a return of the village she ruled over or having her old friend back. I said before that she was one of the show’s better foes, this is partly why. There’s actually a decent motive for her. On the other hand, I was disappointed, but not surprised that she was redeemed and the way it was done. I think the crime she was trying to committed was too great to ignore. Look if I feel Discord and Trixie (and Luna to a certain extent) getting off was too much, then I should certainly think the same here.
Cutie Re-Mark has to be one of the strangest episode ever made for the show, certainly amongst the finales and two-parters. Strange doesn’t equate with bad or good, and what makes it strange might not quite in the way you might think for this episode, that is if you think in terms of the alternate timelines visited and time travel or the villain. No it has to do with something else. I’ve stated in past reviews that pretty much all two-parters and finales happen to be Twilight centric, and this one is no different. Twilight doesn’t just star here, she dominates it. Except at the end, none of her friends make any real appearances (alternate universes and younger forms not withstanding given they are clearly props), so much of the weight ends on Twilight’s wings. And yet, this has to be the one where she receives the least amount of development as a character; seriously, what does Twilight really learn as a character, how does she change as a pony. Friendship is Magic, Return of Harmony, Crystal Empire, Princess Twilight, and Twilight’s Kingdom were all Twilight Centric episodes that at least pretended Twilight was developing as a character. This episode doesn’t do that at all, which is a problem and ultimately makes a dark truth come out: this is probably the one where it feels the most static and probably the one where friendship felt least important (hey, Twilight does it all by herself).
And yet weirdly enough, there is a small, if not interesting bit when you start to think about it from this episode. Per the Butterfly effect and taking into account the thought that time is a stream that starts as a drop that cascades into something greater, an change will a greater effect have As such, the general importance of things becomes greater the further from the present things. You could argue that in someways, time (but not neccessarily history) makes equals of us all in the long run because we all will have an effect on something that affects something later and later and later. Okay, I'm probably seeing more than intended. But this episode had me thinking about things that mean alot to me (consquences, nostaliga, etc.). As such, I probably enjoyed Cutie Re-Mark more than I should have because let's face it, it's not a good episode under the microscope.
Finally, I'll end with this quote from W. S. Glibert's (of Gilbert and Sullivan) 1881 play with it in Foggerty’s Fairy, which I wanted to include but couldn't a find to fit it in (if this piece feels rushed, that's because I lost a lot from computer and internet problems):
FOGGERTY. Let's understand one another. When I took the draught all the consequences of my having known Spiff were obliterated.
REBECCA. Utterly.
FOGGERTY. But if I had never known Spiff I should never have got into a difficulty on account of Spiff, and if I had never got into that difficulty I should never have applied to you to get me out of it, and if I had never applied to you to get me out of it you would never have given me that infernal draught, which has been the cause of all the miseries with which I'm threatened.
REBECCA. Dear me, I never thought of that.
FOGGERTY. In point of fact, I've been saddled with consequences from which, according to the terms of my contract, I ought to have been entirely free.
I agree: I was impressed with the whole "for want of a nail" aspect, and frankly just shrugged at the time travel plot as an excuse to round up some awesome set-pieces. The scene with Zecora explaining the concept was a highlight, and the Sombra alternative timeline was easily the best.
It might just be because I love watching a class act of a villain at work, but Starlight Glimmer was on top form in her smug monster mode. Another great bit was when she casually dodges Twilight's crystallization spell, watches it hit Rainbow Dash, and then mocks her for it by pretending to cheer.
Moreover, I think the shallowness of the alternate worlds was intentional: all we really need to know is that bad things happened because Twilight and co weren't united against it, and it gave us a passable reason to show the old threats of Equestria in full glory. It would have been nice to have seen how Equestria worked under Nightmare Moon and Queen Chrysalis, of course, but as far as the story is concerned, that would have been a distraction. The focus was always on stopping Starlight.
I will say, though, that I think her overpowering is a bit much. Granted, her initial appearance required her to use a cutie-mark spell that broke some canonical rules, but that could still fit in with the "one pony, one trick" thing Twilight brought up as early as Boast Busters. It's a harder sell to have this fugitive pony - at least, I hope Twilight et al had the sense to tell someone about her - getting access to and learning much tougher spells, and a harder sell still to put her on par with an alicorn of a pony who was already a superlative magical student even before her ascension. It just seemed like a cheap way to force Twilight to use diplomacy rather than brute strength. They could at least have gone the Trixie route and have her use a powerful artefact to even the odds.
As for her redemption, I have clearer feelings about it: I didn't like it. Moments ago, the show was revelling in how petty and twisted Starlight is, showing us bad future after bad future - which, superficial though our impressions of them are, were still enjoyably dark and high-stakes - and having Twilight be outmanoeuvred at each step. Then, in the space of barely a few minutes, we're expected to feel sorry for Starlight because one early and close friendship suddenly went sour with cutie marks.
Even if we granted the single-issue psychology being offered up here - and given the great potential Starlight had as a complex and philosophical/ideological villain, I'm speaking purely hypothetically - Starlight is still insane and nuts. How did she get from one sad incident with one pony to a grand philosophy encompassing all ponydom? Where most ponies would simply be bitter or sad and possibly move on, how do you get one who tries to reformat the entire world to suit herself better? Where in rejection and loneliness is it OK to attack, manipulate, and get petty revenge on others? Where the heck did that sadism and unstoppable vengefulness come from? What about her philosophical reasoning? Even if she has rejection issues, so much else is going on here that it's downright sloppy the show thought it had addressed it with that sorry excuse.